How Immigration Policies Shape Gender‐ Based Violence Against Immigrants Who Have a Temporary Or Precarious Status

25/02/2020

How Immigration Policies Shape Gender‐ based Violence against Immigrants Who Have a Temporary or Precarious Status

Rupaleem Bhuyan & Margarita Pintin-Perez University of Toronto | OCASI

Learning Network & Knowledge Hub Wednesday, February 26, 2020 | 1:00-2:15 PM EST

Welcome to our Learning Network & Knowledge Hub Webinar Understanding how immigration policies shape gender-based violence among immigrants who have a temporary or precarious status Wednesday, February 26, 2020 | 1:00-2:15 PM EST

• All attendees are muted during the webinar. • If you are experiencing issues, please type into the chat box. • If you have a question for the webinar speakers, please type into the Q&A box and we will spend 15 mins near the end on Questions and Answers. • There will be an evaluation link in the chat box at the end of the webinar, please fill out the form as your feedback will guide our future webinars. • Once you complete the evaluation form, you will be directed to a website where you will be prompted to enter your full name and email address. A certificate of attendance will be generated and emailed to you. • Presentation slides are posted on our website, there will be a link in the chat box. • The webinar recording will be posted on our website within the next few days: http://www.vawlearningnetwork.ca/ln-kh-webinars

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Canadian Immigration Policies and Precarious Status

Forms of Gender-Based Violence Overview against Immigrants  Case Example: Migrant Caregivers

Myths & Counternarratives

Community-Based Responses

Action Steps

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Policy Context

Early Canadian History

.1867, Queen & British govt approve Canada’s confederation

.1869, Immigration Act

.1876,Canadian Indian Act Context .1885, Chinese Immigration Act

. Additional exclusions in 1887, 1892, 1900, 1903, 1906, 1908…

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Contemporary Canada . 1962, Removal of racial exclusions . 1967, Introduced points system . 1971/1988 Multiculturalism Act . 1973, Temporary Foreign Worker Program . 2001, Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

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Canada’s Streams for Permanent Residence

Economic Family Humanitarian • Express Entry (Points) • Spouse/partner • Convention Refugee • Entrepreneur/Investor • Dependent child •Asylum • Provincial Nominee • Parent/Grandparent seeker/refugee • Caregiver claimant • Dependent • Humanitarian & spouse/child of econ. Compassionate Immigrant Grounds (H&C) • Designated persons

Economic 159,262 Permanent Family 82,470 Residents in Refugee 44,747 2017 Total 286,479

Government of Canada (2018a)

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International 572,000 Students Temporary 254,540 Temporary Workers Residents in Refugee 29,435 2018 claimants Total 855,975

Government of Canada (2018b)

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Immigration to Canada by Category 2015-2017 by Gender: Principal Applicants & Immediate Family Members

IRCC (2018)

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Defining Precarious Immigration Status . Excluded from rights of citizenship  . Precarious status lacks one or more of the following (Goldring et.al., 2010): Defining× Work Precarious authorization × TheStatus right to remain permanently in Canada × Social and political rights available to permanent residents and citizens × Not being dependent on a third party for one’s right to be in Canada × Potential to be detained or deported

.Intersectionality .Gender-Based Violence Framework .Structural Violence .Anti-Oppressive Practice

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“Intersectionalities color the meaning and nature of GBV, how it is experienced by the self and responded to by others; how personal and social consequences are reproduced, and how and whether escape and safety can be obtained”

(Natalie Solokoff, 2005)

Non-status due to expiration of visitor or temporary resident visa In the midst of sponsorship breakdown Forms of Precarious Waiting for refugee or humanitarian claim Status for People determination Seeking Safety from Refugee claimant denied or dismissed GBV Asylum seeker with deportation order Families with mixed-status Trafficked person

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Matoo, 2016

Bhuyan et al. (2014)

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“Structural violence is one way of describing social arrangements that put individuals and populations in harm’s way… The arrangements are structural because they are embedded in the political and economic organization of our social world; they are violent because they cause injury to people … neither culture nor pure individual will is at fault; rather, historically given (and often economically driven) processes and forces conspire to constrain individual agency.” (Paul Farmer, 2006)

. Structural violence harms people by denying people from meeting their basic needs.

Structural Violence & GBV against Immigrants

Violence against . Family reunification policies Immigrant & . Migrant worker policies Refugee . International student policies Women . Systemic racism & xenophobia . Lack of safe & affordable housing . Precarious work and low wages . Threat of detention or deportation

Ahmad et al, (2018)

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CAREGIVERS JOURNEYS, 2014-2018 MIGRANT MOTHERS PROJECT

BUILDING LEADERSHIP CAPACITY TO Case Studies ADDRESS GBV AGAINST NON-STATUS, REFUGEE AND IMMIGRANT WOMEN OCASI

www.caregiv er- action.com

1981 2017

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Caregiver Program as a Pathway to “Illegality” Carol’s Journey Feb-Oct 2015 Worked under the table Sept 2016 Sept 2014 while permit was being processed Released from Arrived in Calgary Employer

2014 2015 2016 2017

February 2015 June 2015 Oct 2015 Jan 2017

Left Employer New LMIA New closed Aims to approved work permit complete LIC approved program

Forms of Abuse & Exploitation

Put down Not allowed to leave the Yelled at house or call family; Insulted not given a key.

Unpaid for long, Denied extra hours privacy; nutrition

Forced to care for Sexually harassed, other people; or touched or work extra jobs. assaulted.

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MYTHS AND COUNTERNARRATIVES: ADDRESSING GBV AGAINST NON-STATUS, REFUGEE AND IMMIGRANT WOMEN

MYTH: VIOLENCE AGAINST RACIALIZED IMMIGRANT WOMEN IS A CULTURAL PROBLEM

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COUNTERNARRATIVE

MYTH: CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND SOCIAL SERIVCE RESPONSES ARE NOT FRAMED AROUND ‘IDEAL VICTIMS’

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COUNTERNARRATIVE

Building Leadership Capacity to Address Gender- Based Violence against Non-Status, Refugee and Immigrant Women across Canada

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WHAT IS THE PEER CHAMPION PROGRAM?

● Modeled after the Immigrant and Refugee Communities Neighbours, Friends and Families Campaign ● A program that uses popular education to build leadership capacity and foster connections among NSRI women ● Develops tools and activities to guide conversations about gender-based violence prevention, which include the insight and self-determination of racialized, immigrant and refugee communities

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WHAT IS A COMMUNITY ADVOCACY NETWORK?

● Modeled after the Rights of Non-Status Women’s Network ● A strategy which establishes grassroots networks among NSRI survivors, service providers, and other civil society leaders, in order to build community capacity for developing survivor-led, evidence-based solutions to GBV ● Provides tools, training and resources and develops national and regional strategy plans

KEY LEARNINGS?

● WHAT DOES LEADERSHIP LOOK LIKE? ● WHAT IS STRUCTURAL SAFETY/HEALING? ● HOW DO WE STRENGTHEN SHARED RESPONSIBILITY AND ADVOCACY

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Recognize Center Grassroots Relationships What you Leaders can do. Involve Center People Stories Seeking Justice

Implement Hold Gender Government Analysis & Accountable Budgeting

Rupaleem Bhuyan, PhD Margarita Pintin-Perez, PhD Associate Professor Senior Coordinator Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work GBV Building Leadership Capacity Project University of Toronto OCASI [email protected] [email protected] ps://ocasi.org/ www.migrantmothersproject.com

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Resource Links Linksces . Battered Women’s Support Services https://www.bwss.org/ . Butterfly – Migrant Sex Workers Netowrk https://www.butterflysw.org/ . Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) Steps to Justice https://stepstojustice.ca/ . Canadian Council for Refugees https://ccrweb.ca/en/violence_against_women_resources . Ending Violence—Association of BC. https://endingviolence.org/ . Migrante Canada http://www.migrante.ca/ . Migrant Workers Alliance for Change https://migrantworkersalliance.org/ . No One Is Illegal –Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal https://www.nooneisillegal.org/ . Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants https://ocasi.org/gender-based-violence . OK2BME-LBGTQ+ Immigration https://ok2bme.ca/resources/outside-of-canada/canadas-laws/ . South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario – End Forced Marriage Project https://salc.on.ca/forced- marriage/ . YWCA Metro Vancouver-Mothers without Status https://ywcavan.org/advocacy/mothers-without- legal-status

Glossary – Federal Agencies

. CANADA BORDER SERVICES AGENCY (CBSA): A federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border protection and surveillance, immigration enforcement and customs services in Canada. . IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE BOARD (IRB): The tribunal responsible for making decisions on immigration and refugee matters. . IMMIGRATION, REFUGEES AND CITIZENSHIP CANADA (IRCC): The federal department responsible for administering who enters Canada, the protection of refuges, granting citizenship, and immigrant settlement.

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Glossary – Immigrant Categories

. MIGRANT: A person who changes their country of residence, irrespective of the reason for migration or status. . PERMANENT RESIDENT: A person who has been issued a permanent resident card but is not yet eligible to become or has not yet become a citizen. . TEMPORARY RESIDENT: A person who is not a citizen and is in Canada with some form of temporary status, including tourists, students, and temporary foreign workers. . NON-STATUS: A foreign national who entered Canada without a permit or whose permit has expired.

Glossary – Humanitarian Categories

. REFUGEE/CONVENTION REFUGEE – a person who is forced to flee from persecution and who is outside of their home country AND meets the refugee definition in the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. . RESETTLEED REFUGEE: A Convention Refugee who is sponsored by the Canadian government, an individual or group to immigrate to Canada. . REFUGEE CLAIMANT: A person who has applied to remain in Canada as a Convention Refugee and who has not yet received a decision from the IRB. . HUMANITARIAN & COMPASSIONATE APPLICATION: An application for permanent residents based on humanitarian considerations. For example, someone who has settled in Canada, has ties to Canada, is facing domestic violence, has a Canadian child they are supporting).

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References

. Ahmad, S., Casipullai, A., Angeles, N., and Mattoo, D. (2018). #USTOO A call to action: Meeting the needs of immigrant and racialized communities in anti-gender-based violence work in Ontario. Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants. Toronto, ON. Available at http://www.immigrantandrefugeenff.ca/sites/immigrantandrefugeenff.ca/files/us-too.pdf . Bhuyan, R. and Schmidt, C. (2018). Identifying structural barriers to improve settlement outcomesReferences for vulnerable groups of immigrant women. Immigrant Women, Youth, and Seniors: A Research and knowledge mobilization project on the settlement outcomes—service nexus. CERIS, Toronto, Ontario. Availablehttp://ceris.ca/IWYS/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/IWYS- Knowledge-Synthesis-Report-Womens-report-Sept-2018.Pdf . Bhuyan, R., Osborne, B., Zaraei, S. and Tarshis, S. (2014). Unprotected, Unrecognized: Canadian Immigration Policy and Violence against Women,2008-2013. Toronto, Ontario: Migrant Mothers Project Report, University of Toronto. November.

References

. CIC News (2017, October). Immigrants Make Up 21.9% of Canada’s Population: StatsCan. Government of Canada. Available at https://www.cicnews.com/2017/10/immigrants- make-up-21-9-of-canadas-population-statscan-109735.html#gs.xrhrvy . Government of Canada (2018). Annual report to parliament on immigration. Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada. Ottawa, ON. Available at https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugeescitizenship/corporate/publications- manuals/annual-report-parliamReferences ent-immigration-2018/report.html . (2018). Permanent residents: Monthly IRCC Updates. Open Government, Ottawa, ON. Available at https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/f7e5498e-0ad8-4417-85c9- 9b8aff9b9eda . (2018). Temporary residents: Work permit and study permit holders. Quarterly IRCC Updates. Open Government, Ottawa, ON. Available https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/360024f2-17e9-4558-bfc1-3616485d65b9

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References

Goldring, L., Berinstein, C., & Bernhard, J. K. (2009). Institutionalizing precarious migratory status in Canada. Citizenship studies, 13(3), 239-265. . Immigrants, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) (2018). 2018 Annual report to parliament. Government of Canada. Available at https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration- refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/annual-report-parliament- immigration-2018/report.htmlReferences Sokoloff, N. J., & Dupont, I. (2005). Domestic violence at the intersections of race, class, and gender: Challenges and contributions to understanding violence against marginalized women in diverse communities. Violence against women, 11(1), 38-64.